The invention relates generally to asset management for control of electric appliances.
Electronic and electric equipment management in private homes, as well as in commercial and industrial environments, may be realized by using advanced technologies and smart solution features for locating the equipment based on RFID technology. This may be supporting the equipment using electronic features implemented in hardware to register and initialize devices. After such a registration, the equipment may be linked via a registration key to the entire household or industrial environment. If the equipment is removed without a defined procedure, it may be disabled and cannot be used in a different environment.
Several approaches have been followed in order to improve control of electric appliances. U.S. Pat. No. 7,339,477 B2 discloses features of monitoring and controlling electric and electronic appliances by embedding an RFID tag in each electrical and electronic appliance located in a closed loop environment. The document discloses a locking in the event of an unauthorized removal/transport of the appliance outside a closed loop environment. For this purpose, there is provided a master control device that wirelessly communicates with an asset based on a unique identifier. The master control device is capable of detecting once it may be removed outside a defined area. In case the assets are power tools, an alarm event may include locking the functional circuitry of one or more of the assets. A location detection may be based on GPS (global positioning system) or a triangulation utilizing multiple antennas.
U.S. Patent Publication 2008/0030322 A1 discloses monitoring and controlling electrical and electronic appliances by embedding a chip in each electrical or electronic appliance. A tracking of a location of the appliance may be realized by tracking the chip inside the appliance based on GPS coordinates. Also a disabling function of the appliance may be provided. For that, a GPS transmitter may be embedded in the housing of tracked equipment.
Document WO01/75830A1 discloses embedding a chip in each electrical or electronic appliance for a control and monitoring function. A secured appliance may include a location sensor, e.g., based on GPS. Each removable appliance may be equipped with a location sensor, and a security controller integrated within the appliance. The security controller may be arranged to inhibit at least some of the functions of the appliance when the location of the appliance indicated by data from the location sensor is not in an authorized location. A powering-up may be prevented.
Document WO096/03728 discloses enhancing security of electrical appliances by embedding a chip in the appliance. The chip may generate and transmit an identification signal carrying an identification and location of the appliance to a centralized monitoring unit for receiving an authorization signal for normal operation. A telecommunication system may be used. Tracked location information of the appliance may be compared to a normal location of the appliance.